Current Poll Results: How Often Are People Changing Their Oil?

Last week we had a poll called “How often do you really change your oil?”. Now that several hundred people have taken the poll, I figured I’d post up the current results. Note: The poll didn’t specify whether each person was using synthetic or non-synthetic oil, so think of this as a baseline, not the “end all / be all” test.

It looks like 3001-5000 miles is the winner at about 50%. I was actually pleasantly surprised by this, because there have been many articles floating around the internet claiming that you don’t need to change it that often. While I agree that synthetics can handle longer oil change intervals, I believe that going more than 5000 on the non-synthetic oil (and filter for that matter) is pushing your limits. This result gives me hope for all of the non-synthetic engines out there.

The second highest result was the 5001-8000 mile range. My best guess is that this is where many of the synthetic oil users are landing. Many synthetic users change it around 7-8000 ish, that seems to be the “norm”. If you are running non-synthetic up to 8000 miles, you are bold. I won’t judge though.

Next up is where I fall, in the 17% range. I realize that I’m not in the majority, and I could go to 4000 or maybe in 5000 for my oil changes and probably not see a difference. However, I will spare you because I already cover my thoughts on this whole subject a short time ago.

The “whenever my car tells me to” was the biggest surprise for me because I expected that to be far higher. Is it that many vehicles on the road don’t have this feature or do drivers not trust their dashboard? It’s something to think about for sure!

Newsflash! 1% of people don’t know that oil needs to be changed. Note to self: Do not buy a vehicle from that 1%.

For what it is worth, I’m going to keep the poll open and review it again in a month or so to see how / if the results change.

It’s not only about miles what about the people that drive maybe 3 miles to work and don’t drive much on the weekends especially in cold weather think what’s happening to your engine oil you for sure better not be going past 3k in these conditions.I belive the public needs to be educated on this also.If you remember the old fram comercial pay me now or pay me later.

The mileage/time interval between oil changes depends on what type oil is used. with non synthetic, 3500miles is when this should be changed.
Short trips with this type oil you must check for sludge build up. most importantly this type oil must be drained when the engine is hot !

SYNTHETIC OILS most find 8,ooo- 15.000mi is when it is time to change. Using fully synthetic oil costs more , but the useage is more than 2X. with the higher miles a top quality oil filter is needed. Wix/pure one purolator are good filter manufacturers. The other advantage to synthetic oil is the ability to not absorb condensation/water . this prevents sludge and acids eating at the internals.This is all revealed with a good running engine as the color of the oil will still look like oil , not a gray color , even at the high mileage of use.